


Visited by idiots

by Work



Series: visitors [2]
Category: Ghosts (TV 2019), Oxventure (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27451378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Work/pseuds/Work
Summary: Alison has managed to book another group of idiots to stay at Button House.At least it's not a family this time..right?It's much worse. There's something wrong with this group. Maybe it's the flirting of one of them?Maybe the hippie attitude of another? Could be the man with the energy of an excited puppy? The woman dressed as a deer-spirit? Or maybe the scared-looking dragon-masked man...(The Oxventurers are known to be terrible at incognito missions and this, this is a new low. Prudence would honestly be better dressed as she normally is.)
Series: visitors [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945981
Kudos: 5





	Visited by idiots

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it took to long. This is a nightmare and STILL unfinished.  
> Hope you have fun reading.

It was a surprise but really the clues were there. A piece of paper with prices, multiple random phone calls, Alison being silently excited and bouncy and Mike singing many many many songs about getting 'the money'.

The Ghosts really should not have been surprised when a large car drove a little too fast into the driveway of Button House. If Pat was being honest he, and many of the other ghosts, thought that with the car driving like that they'd soon be able to shake hands with the people in the car. But miraculously the swerving, skidding car managed to avoid the water fountain (barely) and was soon parked awkwardly against the fence and away from the door to the house. 

.

The five visitors all stepped out of the car. Most were shouting at a tall man who stepped out of the drivers seat and placed the keys in his pocket while ignoring them. Alison couldn't hear them but she assumed it was a result of the reckless and frightening driving but she didn't have time to wonder long as she saw the tall man say something in a casual voice before walking towards the open door of the Button House and her. 

One other person ran after him as he walked, a short female dressed in earthy colours and wearing a beret but the rest stayed behind, speaking to each other and grabbing items from the car. 

"Your..names please?" Alison asked, looking behind the broad shouldered man who was unnervingly smiling at her. If she's honest she thinks she can see sharp canines in his wide toothy smile. 

"Oh, just a moment then..." The short woman nervously laughed, oblivious, it seemed, to her companions unnerving smile. Pat and the Captain, who had decided to keep an eye on these strangers looked at the woman strangely. She had a green cardigan on over a brown top with a cartoon bear on it saying 'Grin and bear it'. Pat found this amusing but the Captain, who was narrowing his eyes at the tall man, couldn't help but think they both looked suspicious. He couldn't quite place their age. They had the voices and knowledge of adults but they wore bright colours, smiled easily, it unnerved him. 

It unnerved the Captain in a very similar way to the tall man's smile was unnerving Alison.

The man continued to look at her until his companions, a fancy looking man who winked at her and reminded her a little to much of Julian and Thomas put together, a strangely dressed woman and an even strangely -er dressed..man entered and stood behind him like a meatshield. 

The fancy man had straight but long dark brown hair, a deep rich oak. His eyes were a dazzling dark stormy blue eyes that complemented his skin wonderfully. His skin seemed to have a tanned undertone but was faded as if being sun-bleached or sea-washed. He wore a waistcoat and dark thin jeans the same colour black as his waistcoat with a businesslike white shirt that looked like it hadn't been ironed in years and had an ink stain on the sleeve.

It's not that the Captain was looking but it just happened to catch his eye. Interesting man. He carried his pride with him, in the puffed up posture like he'd never had to hide in his life, despite his blemishes he makes them seem like medals or simply something that adds more to his looks rather than takes something away. Captain liked it. He allowed himself to like this man.

The broader and over-all bouncier man though..His upbeat personality and bouncing on his feet unnerved Captain. It made it seem like the man was waiting for something or was nervous, none of which were good. Nevertheless the man was still beautiful-handsome, the Captain meant handsome. Unlike the fancy man the Captain could see the muscles under this man's top, he was more toned and athletically inclined than the fancy man, that's for sure. His hair was slightly wavy and thick, a dark almond colour. He wore short sleeved shirt with a scarf around his neck to keep him warm. On his legs he had shorts and high socks. A backpack on his back told Pat that this man was the responsible one of his group. Pat thinks Julian would call him a 'buzzkill' but this man looks like a playful puppy and the life of the party. 

The other strangely dressed two Pat and the Captain did not want to look at. One had antlers and the other had a metallic mask on. Wincing, Pat and the Captain could already hear the shouts and screams of Lady Button. 

"Your names?" Alison repeated and snapped both groups out of their dazes, though Pat and the Captain did not know what the new visitors had to be in a daze about.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Ddd-Dob..." The tall man states and draws the 'd' out as if he was going to say a fake name. Alison almost laughs at the obvious suspiciousness and lecture she's going to get from the Captain about 'personal safety and suspicious characters' but marks the name in anyway.

'Dob's' Companions do not look pleased with his choice of fake name, their faces ranging from amusements to annoyance and rage. They continue with their names though, the finely dressed man making his way to the front to lean against the counter of the check-in.

"Mike Channell" The fancy man introduces, giving Alison a flirtasious look before adding, "That's M-I-K-E C-H-A-N-E-L-L. Feel free to call me my whole name a lot."

The masked man rolls his eyes as he grabs Mike Channel and drags him back by the arm, huffing and blowing a little bit of what appears to be smoke out of his mask, "Umm..It does that sometimes. A bug gets in the heater and.." He states upon seeing Alison follow the rising smoke up toward the ceiling with her eyes.

The others of the group carry on quickly.

"Lily." The small woman introduces and apologizes with a quieter voice for 'Mike' before smiling at Alison. 

"Prudence." The deer-looking woman says and holds out a gloved hand. Alison think the glove might be to make her seem friendlier but it does the opposite in reality. She still shakes the hand though and turns to the last unnamed member of the group, the mask man.

He pauses for a moment, as if thinking before casually saying, as if he only just realized everyone's eyes were looking at him, "Oh! Corazon. Corazon de Leon." 

At this the fancy man, Mike, suddenly jumped on the masked man, grabbing onto hs back and hitting him. 

Alison takes a step back as the members of Mike and Corazon's group try to break them up, unsuccessfully until the smaller female, Lily, whispers something to both of them, eyeing Alison and the men stop fighting. 

This confused Pat, the fancy-dressed man seemed annoyed and slightly angry at the name. Possibly a name from his past?  
Pat quickly dismissed that thought though with a shake of his head, no use dwelling on such theories. He instead chose to focus on the strange group again.

It was unfortunate though as as he had been distracted two of the people in the group had muttered something important, something that the Captain heard and would change the course of events for however long the group stayed in Button House.

"Umm..Dob..." Corazon had muttered, cautiously tapping on the tall man's back. He glanced at the doorway where the Captain and Pat were. 

"Yep bud?" Dob had answered swiftly, a little loud but it was fine as Prudence and Lily discussed room arrangements with Alison who was trying to avoid Mike's flirting.

"I-I..umm..well...I think there are some..people standing at the door, watching us. They're quite creepy..." Corazon had whispered back, glancing again at the two ghosts and making the Captain adjust his grip on his swagger stick. He could barely hear them but he had a sinking feeling falling down to his toes.

Dob glanced at where the masked man was looking but saw nothing, smiling sympathetically at the man though, "There's nothing there buddy. I think you just hit your head a little hard on that last corner, sorry. I'll tell you what, I'll walk you up to your room and carry your things, you rest and if you're still seeing things we'll talk to the others in the morning."

The masked man seemed satisfied with this as he hummed but didn't say anything, instead resting his head on Dob's shoulder with his brow low.  
.  
They finally sorted out rooms and were slowly guided to them by Alison, Pat and the Captain following just behind so as not to disturb Alison but to also keep an eye on the group.

Captain didn't mention what he had heard, needing to review it in his head but Pat knew something was bothering him. Despite the Captain's tendency to button up he's very bad at hiding his feelings and thoughts, expressing it clearly on his face and in his actions even if he is not aware of it.

"Captain, what's up?" Pat finally plucked up enough courage to ask as they followed the pretty man, Mike to his room absent-mindedly. It had turned into an orange afternoon by that time.

The Captain either didn't hear or chose to ignore Pat though as he continued to silently think as they stopped in Mike's room. The other ghosts had been instructed to stay in the living room and they were quite happy to, at least Pat thought so since he hadn't heard from them yet. 

On the other end of the spectrum 'Corazon' and Dob entered their shared room. In all honesty they only payed for three rooms because the girls could share one and Corazon, the real one, wanted his own room. They were an adventuring group of five but for all they can tell their current adventure wasn't going well, being transported to a world of no-magic and human on human on human is not exactly great when only one of your party is a human. 

"I did see a ghosts Dob!" Egbert, who gave the name 'Corazon' to annoy the self-appointed pirate leader of their group Corazon, objects as he fluffs his pillow. 

Dob who had decided to straight away jump on the bed looked up at Egbert, "Sure. Were they covered in blood? Fully caporal? Pointing at anything?" 

Egbert shook his head, blowing a lot of smoke out of his nose, he'd been keeping it in for over an hour now, it gave him gas. He didn't really see the ghosts do any of that and now that he thought about it they looked really..real. Maybe he mistakenly thought they were ghosts when they were just..actors? Fellow inn patrons? 

"Well if it really gets your goat we can go look for these 'ghosts'~ Wooo~." Dob suggests, wiggling his fingers in a mock spooky motion. 

Despite his companions nonserious suggesting Egbert appreciates it and nods, placing the pillow that had now lost fifteen feathers from it from over-fluffing down.   
.  
On the other side of the wall two women were pressed against the wall.

"Did you hear that? They're going to go on a ghost hunt without us!" Prudence, the deer looking woman said. She had been informed by Corazon that human do not have horn and so she was made to look like a deer.  
In hindsight no one knew what that did to make her look any less strange but they couldn't change it now.

"Leave them to it Pru. Aren't you tired?" Merilwen, the woman who has introduced herself as Lily, sighed as she lay back down on the double bed. She hasn't had a proper bed for months now. It almost threatened to make her fall asleep right then and there.

"Yes but ghosts Merilwen! You've seen ghosts! Egbert, the nonbeliever, has seen ghosts!" Prudence explains excitedly, holding a pillow and accidently putting her sharp nails right through it. 

"And?" Merilwen muttered, falling deeper into sleep as she closed her eyes. She couldn't see a problem, if there are ghosts her they are not exactly going to murder her.

Sighing and realizing this gets them nowhere Prudence places the pillow down, hiding the clawmarks, "It means they can see you when you change, in the shower and sleep."

"They need to be hunted and found."  
.  
"Hello!" The ghosts, Pat and the Captain had just witnessed the handsome man say as Alison left and he turned in a circle, face pointed up to the sky.

"Hello!?" Corazon, the real real one, shouted again. It wasn't his usual behavior but after facing a few too many peeping toms he'd adopted a habit of checking the room for things.

Pat doubted the strange man, however finely dressed he was, could see them but the Captain was not quite sure. After witnessing what had happened in the morning he had a suspicion that these people were not normal. 

"Maybe we should leave" He decided to mutter, not moving his eyes away from the man called Mike. He needed to keep an eye on this man.

Pat looked at the Captain, certainly he knew something but he was keeping his mouth shut. 

"I'll just leave then. You keep an eye on this man, Mike and I'll...go." Pat had said but the Captain wasn't really paying attention. Lazer-focused on 'Mike' as Pat left. 

Corazon, meanwhile, had decided that perhaps no one was spying on him and even if they were...he could at least give them a show. So had decided to change back into his real clothes.

Slowly pulling off his waistcoat and shirt. He'd managed to have a bunch of clothes neatly folded in his backpack when they had...had the mistake. So he'd given everyone their 'normal' clothes but honestly. He loved his pirate gear. He'd worked hard to be a pirate, he's going to stay a pirate for as long as he can.

Corazón was not a skinny man, not a lot a meat on him though. He had defined muscles sure but it was all in the sculpting. The skin and the hair.  
That's where Cor really shined.

He knew this. He made himself this way. He perfectly crafted the image of Corazón de Ballena this way.

So it would have not been a surprise to him when the Captain's mouth opened with no words falling out. To the pirate captain this would have been a clear sign that nothing more needed to be done, he had caught his audience and had them wrapped around his fingers. Unfortunately Corazón could not exactly see his audience so thought it would be a good idea to only increase the performance by ten.

Taking his time stretching, lifting his arms towards the sky as he moved, Corazón would possibly smirk at the fact that made the Captain blush slightly but alas he could not see the ghost so instead decided to pose a little.

Topless, the clear and dangerously close to touching 'v' very clearly catching the evening light. Corazón stretched his arms from side to side, moving his hips a little. He's been told they are enchanting. A certain ghost would agree.

Usually the pirate would have black skinny jeans on, showing off a little more of his curves but he settled for less tight jeans for casual wear today. If the Captain knew about this fact he'd thank whatever god there is.

"Like what you see?" Corazón had decided to purr out, obviously he thought he was saying it go an empty room...he could not have been more wrong.

Slowly he took his trousers off, switching them carefully in for a tighter blacker pair. Not as black as his usual but almost there. 

If anyone in the Oxventurers guild had a butt it was Dob. But followed by Prudence and then Corazón. 

So he knew how to show his appearance off, and he did just that. Running a hand through his hair as he stopped after putting new trousers on Corazón looked around the room again. He had the strangest feeling of being watched...

Shrugging it off he put a top on, slowly buttoning it up. In his mind this was because it was fine silk, easy to damage and one of his most prized possessions. In the Captains mind it was because everyone was going in slow motion, the way Mike's muscles tenses and relaxed, the way his upper body which had a few sprinkled spots of black hair was being covered up and the shine of his eyes as they catch the afternoon light.

Corazón slowly put on a new black waistcoat with tentacles as the buttons, highlighting his upper figure and small hip-dip. Before putting on his black leather trenchcoat and boots.

He then looked around one final time, narrowing his eyes as a piece of hair fell over his brow.

Placing the fallen hair back behind his face he shrugged and exited the room, wanting to silently explore the new place he had found himself in.

Leaving a very tense and disasterous ghost standing like a post in his room, blushing like a peeping-tom.  
.  
"Where do you think we should head?" Dob asked in a hushed voice, popping his head over Egbert's at the doorway, looking at the shaded hallway. 

Egbert was mildly annoyed that Dob insisted that he constantly follow behind no further than five feet away, it made his sneaking job a lot harder. He loved Dob, he really did but he'd trade him for Corazón in a heartbeat at this moment. Dob had a habit of not knowing his own weight, quite a feat for a usually acrobatic and athletic man.

"I suppose the front door? Assembly point?" Egbert suggests, creeping down the hallway on the front of his feet slowly. Merilwen, Prudence and Corazón are probably sleeping, he seems to think and Egbert is nothing less than considerate of that.

"Because that's where you saw them before!" Dob realizes and sneaks behind the dragon-man. 

Egbert could really do with the shadow-blending rouge pirate right know.

As it just so happened Corazón had just opened his door when the pair of idiots, Dob and Egbert had passed him. The reason they didn't see him, aside from his natural ability to blend into shadows, is the fact he panicked, silently curses and crawled his way up to the ceiling when Dob glanced his way, leaving only a slight creak.

He waited for them to pass, catching a segment or so of their conversations. In all honesty he was curious about what 'pickled onion' was doing in Egberts list of 'things I'd like to have right now' but that interest was overtaken by the discussion of ghosts.

Egbert, the notorious nonbeliever of the party. The dragonman who had stared a ghost in the face and declared the ghost a trick of the light, was going on a ghost hunt. Not only going on it but LEADING it...something didn't add up.

And that's why Corazón was following them. To piece the puzzle together. Not because he was jealous of Dob and Egberts personal, spending-time-together...

"You are such a simp." A mocking voice teases, making Corazón jump and almost shriek. 

"Cthulhu! Don't scare me like that." He hisses, gripping his heart. He swears that he was close to a heart attack that time. Out of the many many times Prudence has scared him this one was the closest to killing him. 

"Oh relax pirate, just wondering what you're doing up so late..." Prudence mocks his almost heart-attack and teases him further, voice dripping with intention and knowledge. 

Corazón snorts as he regains his composer. Prudence is one to talk, with her endless crush on-

"No ghosts in...What's going on here?" Merilwen appears out of Dob and Egbert's room, looking between Prudence and Corazón suspiciously. To her it looks like they're alone in a hallway talking. She can practically see the dark bedroom scene already, full of hate and a power-struggle, both battling for power, both enjoying it but never-

"Nothing. What are you doing out here so late?" The goth pirate asks; mirroring Merilwen's previous actions of looking between but this time looking at Merilwen and Prudence.

"I asked you first." Prudence retorts, a smirk on her face as she challenges her captain. If there's one thing either of them could do it was annoy the other.

Merilwen sighs, seeing where this is going and grabbing both their ears, pulling their heads down to her level and making both groan.

"Listen both of you. Me and Pru are on a ghost hunt like the boys. Corazón, I assume, you're following the boys because you feel left out, now let's get moving. I have a plan even if there are no ghost here." Merilwen snarls in their ears. In all honesty, Prudence and Corazón only take in half of what she said but when she lets their ears go they nod anyway, not wanting to anger her again.

Both hot-headed rivals let the usually calm druid go first, letting her lead the way and listening in silence as she tells them her plan.

.  
That plan, however clever Prudence and Corazón thought it was was very..stupid. At least to Merilwen. Definitely not one of her best plans as it basically consisted of scaring the two idiots but it made all three of the prankers laugh so she was to caught up in laughter to care about the possible mental and emotional damages this could cause.

The plan consisted of a little throwing of Pru's vouce via thaumaturgy, mage hand shoving by Corazón, 'ghost cat' played by Merilwen, shadow movement by Prudence and finally some 'ghost' body-part showing by Corazón and his disguise self.  
.  
"Look! Look! Look!" Dob shouts as he sees the back of a leg again, pale and almost see-through. Corazón might have been over doing it with his ghostness at that point but Dob and Egbert were really excited. 

"M-maybe we should leave it..." It's not that Egbert wasn't excited, he was. It was just he never really believed in ghost and having this all happen. Having a ghost accidently almost poke his butt...multiple times really makes a dragon-man question his mortality and..well...

Dob calms down slightly, placing a hand on Egbert's square shoulders. They stay like this for a second, Dob trying to ground the dragonborn until eventually Egbert meets his eyes and offers a shaky smile.  
It's not where Dob would like Egbert to be but it's better than spiraling.

"Yeah...maybe you're right Egg." Dob agrees and keeps a grip on his friends shoulder. He's not sure if it's the late hour or the creepy unusual house but this place does even give him the creeps.

Egbert blows a little smoke out of his nose while smiling before catching a shadow out of the corner of his eye. A very familiar shadow.

Egberts smile falls suddenly as he locks eyes with the same 'arrow-through-the-neck' man he saw before. The cause of death is obvious and Egbert has to swallow a lump in his throat as he sees the arrow go straight through, through the neck and windpipe as the man died. 

And then he waves.  
And Egbert screams and grabs Dob's hand.

"Run!" Egbert screams as he barrels down the hallway, almost dragging Dob's arm off as they race down and away from the ghost.

"Egg?" Dob barely manages to get out as he struggles to keep up, questioning what's caused this sudden shift in mood. Egbert only gives him one answer, "GHOST!"

That's all Dob needs to be running alongside the dragonborn away from Pat.

"Cor!" They hear a familiar pair of voices call in unison, making the boys turn their heads towards the voices, but don't have time to question it as they turn their heads back forward and realize they are about to barrel straight through a rich oak door.

If they were not screaming at that point they would have heard an aggravated, far-too-stressed and tired voice respond, "Working on it!" As the door miraculously swung open and Egbert and Dob did not crash into it.  
.

"That was close." Dob nodded to himself as he gripped onto Egbert's shoulder, breathing heavily as they recover and hide in a dark dining room.

As Dob concentrates on not heaving his way to heaven he doesn't have time to think, 'Why did that door magical open?' And understand that Prudence, Corazón and Merilwen are regrouping and running after them right now.

He's brought out of his heaving when Egbert taps him on the shoulder, shaking.

"D-Dob!" Egbert nervously stutters, staring as Dob looks where he is looking and sees they are not alone. In this dark, creaking room there are five, maybe more ghosts all staring right back at them.

"Umm...ghosts?" Dob questions despite not seeing them he knows they are scaring Egbert and that's all that matters. A small nod tells him his guess is right and he can already picture them, bloody, hollowed out faces maybe? Moaning?

He plans a calculated glare at the ghosts, checking again where Egbert is looking so he doesn't accidently glare at their legs or something, and just when he's about to release it a large door slams behind him.  
The door they entered through.

"Oh my god! Thank god you're alive!" Merilwen exclaims as she runs up to Dob and grabs his face, hugging it tightly and making his glare go wide. (It hits a pretty surprised spider hanging onto the rooms light, they were having a bad day but finally seeing a person know of their existance...cheered them up.)

Egbert barely looks at the new people to enter and continues to stare at the ghosts who are staring at the group. One seems to want to approach but an army-looking man like the one he saw before holds him back, cautiously looking and waiting to see if there's any more forces to come.

"Sorry about that guys. We must have got a little carried away, spooked you too much but if you could please leave the spooky room and we can go back to sleep." Corazón apologizes and Dob resists the urge to tell him that it was not them that spooked them but he's squished in Merilwen's arms.

"You okay Egg?" Prudence asks, placing a careful hand on the dragonman who hasn't blinked this entire time. They were all having fun and games until they saw how badly it had effected the nonbeliever.

"G-ghosts!" Egbert manages to stutter out making Corazón, Prudence and Merilwen confused. Egbert was seeing ghosts...that's not good.

"Umm...okay?" Corazón mutters, taking to action as he marches to where Egbert is looking, "No ghosts here bud."

Egbert could not overstate the irony of that statement as to him Corazón was in the belly of the beast, the pit of ghosts, the large group of ghosts that circled him.

"Guys. Maybe we can just listen and ask Egbert to ask them what they want?" Merilwen suggests, motioning for Cor to walk back to them. She has a sense that this room is unnatural at the very least, if not haunted by ghosts.

"Umm...well...We want you to leave us!" The Captain marches up and demands, making Egbert jump and move away, backing into a wall.

The Captain huffs, "This simply won't do. Do you have anyone else who can see ghosts? Could you wake Alison?"

Egbert shakes his head mostly out of fear but it gets the message across he thinks. The message of 'i'm terrified. Help. Why me. No. No. No.'

"Why-why can't the others see you?" Egbert huffs out, his body tense as his friends rush to try and ease him. Dob takes to looping his arm around him and propping him while Merilwen and Corazón are rubbing his back and Prudence has grabbed his hand to try and ground him further.

"You need to have come close to death or died to see us!" Julian offers though to Egbert it looks like a scary no-trousers spooky ghost shouts it to taunt him from the large group behind the army ghost.

"What's the verdict Egbert?" Corazón asks in a joking tone like he doesn't believe this whole thing is happening, stopping his backrubbing and earning a headslap from Prudence.

.  
"What do you mean, 'the ghosts say we have to have died to see them'?" Corazón glares and huffed as he looked around the room, not very happy with the late hour or the being-awoken-by-a-dragon-and-Dob-hysteria-episode. In all honesty maybe, if he was completely honest, he didn't believe them but no one could tell. He was so good at hiding it.

"He means that Egbert can REALLY see ghosts in this house and they want to talk to all of us so...anyone know how to almost die?" Dob explains, nervously watching Egbert jump as the ghosts around him all shout and scream to the confusion of him being called Egbert and him also calling them 'the ghosts'.

"Yeah...hold on, we need to look it up..." Merilwen immediately said as she looked over Prudence's shoulder. The warlock having already taken out her ancient occult texts. 

"I could hit you with a frying pan?" Corazón suggested, holding aloft a large frying pan and getting in position to whack Dob as hard as he can with it. This was his dream and even if he didn't think it would work he would never miss an opportunity to hit Dob or Egbert with a frying pan.

"No need.-" Prudence announced a second before Corazón swung the pan anyway and smashed Dob's teeth in. There was an awkward pause as everyone looked at the guilty party.

"Opps?"

"No need...I have the spell right here." Prudence finished her sentence and breathed a sigh of 'not-killing-these-idiots' to not kill these idiots.  
.

Prudence did some stupid thing with a tree branch and some poison that Corazon rolled his eyes at but eventually she said done and the pirate blankly looked around. 

"Yeah, hate to tell you this. No ghosts." Corazon states as he takes another look at the creepy but not ghost-filled room. It's a bit like the houses he had visited as a boy. Dark and fancy, no life in it at all.

"Oh" Prudence mutters as she rereads her book, staring at Corazon with a smirk before flicking something in his eyes that immediately sends a jolt of pain through him.

"Fuck! Shit! Why!?" The pirate immediately shouts as he tries to get whatever is hurting him out of his eyes, it feels like acid or spice. Like chili right in his eyes and flowing into his mind. 

"You ungodless bastards! Fuck!" Corazon swears again as he blinks and blinks, on his knees as his vision clears and tears fall. He can actually see the others laughing at him before Prudence does the same to them, making him laugh and cry. Dob tries to get away but Prudence grabs him like a sad dog.

"Hah! How do you like that!" Corazon shouts, still crying as the pain settles and he can stand again. To be fair his vision is a little blurred but..wait? Why can he see green and tan and..red? What?

"Suck it Loo-Okay. They weren't there before!" Corazon starts but he finally sees the 'ghosts' half way through and has to point them out incase that voodoo magic messed with his brain and made him insane. 

"THANK YOU!" Egbert shouts, happy that finally someone else can see the creepy terrible ghosts, grabbing the edgy pirate and swinging him round in a tight hug that might have just clicked Corazon's back. 

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Egbert repeats, putting Corazon down but not before kissing him passionately, leaving the pirate gagging and a little rose-tinted.

"Can you believe this guy?" Corazon asks the closest ghosts, a curly haired fancy boy?

The nice moment is interrupted by multiple screams. 

"Ah. The intense chili spice. SHUT UP! I'm coming, I'm coming. fricking wimps." The pirate captain comments as he mulls over to the others and tries to help them work through the pain. Nevermind he screamed louder than all of them combined when he went through the chili-initiation. 

.

"Sorry, do you mean to say that you ACTUALLY look like that?" The Captain asks, pointing his stick at the dragon-man a little skeptical. The other ghosts mutter in agreement that he can't honestly look like that.

"Yeah...not exactly like I had a ch-oh..Yeah. A bit of an oversight on my part but to be fair to me I didn't intend to get thrown into a world of ONLY humans so..." Egbert explained and was going to say he didn't have a choice on his appearance but remembered he kind of did. Stupid order of the dragondour.

"Yeah. Were we come from the norm is kind of dragons and fae and witches and-" Corazon explains or tries to before seeing Merilwen glaring at him and trailing off. He can only guess he's doing SOMETHING wrong..right?

"And your real names are?" Thomas asks, looking between them all. He may be a man of the arts and such but even he is having a hard time figuring out the tale they have woven.

"I'm Merilwen." Merilwen says and the ghosts nod.

"And you 'Prudence'?" Robin points at the deer-looking woman who nods.

"Yes."

"No we means what's your name." Mary explains and Prudence narrows her eyes.

"Prudence."

"No your real name." The Captain orders with authority.

"Prudence."

"Your name is Prudence?"

"Yes."

"Prudence."

"That's my name."

"Okay now you Mike."

"Yes?" Both the dragon man and man they thought was named Mike answers.

"You're Mike?" Thomas asks the dragon man who shakes his head.

"I'm Egbert, that's Mike." He states casually, pointing at the fancy man who called himself Mike.

"Corazón." The man says with a bow as eyes are on him.

"But that's Corazon." Kitty states looking between Corazon and Corazón confused.

"I'm Egbert, that's Corazón." Egbert explains.

"But then who's Mike?" Julian asks.

"THERE'S NO MIKE!" Prudence shouts in a huff, making the people and ghosts around her jump.

"But he was Mike?" Thomas asks, pointing at Corazón.

"Shh. That's Egbert. That's Corazón, that's Prudence, that's Dob and THAT'S Merilwen." Pat explains and most of the ghosts nod.

"That's Dob?" Mary asks, pointing at the tall man. She smiles as Pat nods and Dob holds his hand out for a shake.  
.

Once they'd spent the night explaining their names and explaining the ghost's names Alison found the five insane idiots who she had barely allowed into her home talking to the ghosts animatedly.

Or at least most of them were talking. Corazon, the real one, the pirate and captain of the Joyful Damnation was not. He was sat with his head in his hands fighting a headache.

Corazon, despite being a young man, was not processing this well, finding most of the ghosts reminded him too much of his-

"So you can all see them?" Alison finally asked, pointing at the ghosts and the strange oxventurers. Both nod and Alison laughs slightly hysterically, "So-So you can make people see them!?"

Prudence places a sympathetic hand on the woman's shoulder as she gets ahead of herself, "Sorry, only works on people..like us."

Corazon didn't need to ask what that meant. People who were from their world.

Alison nods, slightly sad now and walks away, needing to go to work. Cor pities her, poor regular person.

Thinking of regular the pirate bolts up and struts towards the ghosts, the one that reminds him most of himself, might as well face the problem head on. Unfortunately as he reaches the herd of ghosts he looks around and finds no sign of the ghost he wants to talk to.

Picking out the army ghost, the Captain he asks where the ghost has gone, "Ahem-In his sighing place probably. Been refused by one of your female friends I think."

Corazon nods but falters as he goes to exit, "Were you in my room?"

The red that instantly paints the ghost's face is all the answer the pirate needs as he laughs and swiftly turns, feeling his own face about to betray him and show his own embarrassment at the event. 

Corazón, despite his routine, is a easily embarrassed man. He's only able to walk around naked with someone he doesn't know for five hours! 

Shaking his head the previous-fancy man finally reaches the 'sighing place'.  
Corazón can tell it's the sighing place as there is a ghost by the window of the room, staring out and sighing.

Playing with the thought of sneaking up on the young ghost Cor decides that he doesn't want to spook the man so chooses to cough instead, awkwardly standing near the door. He hopes that will deter the ghost from straight-away leaving, despite the fact he can go through walls.

Watching as the ghost jumps before quickly turning to look at him Corazón feels pity, he had the same look years ago.

"I've come to talk to you." Corazón explains, slowly moving towards the stiff ghost. If this boy was alive Cor would be worried for his health, always being so tight and tense. 

"Why?" The ghost asks, keeping his eyes fixed on the pirate. Honestly Thomas had heard of pirates, he knew they were bad news. Especially for someone like him. Not that he has to worry anymore, he's dead, but old habits die hard.

"You seem like me." Corazón mutters, looking at the ground as he stands infront of Thomas, correcting himself a moment later, "I mean you seem like a repressed prick."

Thomas faintly thinks 'prick' is an insult but only scoffs at the pirate. He thinks he's repressed? 

"That's rude good sir and I think you should leave." Thomas defensively puffs up his chest and growls slightly, just like a pirate to judge him. He should have expected nothing less.

The pirate crossed his arms, a small smirk, as always, on his face. He can see this will be a tough nut to crack.

"You need to relax pretty-boy. Let's slow down a bit, my name's Corazón De Ballena. You are?" Corazón teases before bowing. He knows he's a dick but..maybe the boy needs that?  
Tough love he means! Not..a dick...-and now Corazón is blushing. Great.

"Thomas Thorne." Thomas introduces and slightly bows his head. The pirate is blushing now, perhaps he's done something right.

"I am a pirate but I didn't use to be. I use to be you." Cor sots and explains all in one swift movement, careful to not touch the ghost. 

He'd made that mistake with the smoky one and...she seemed sickened while he felt that same pain in his eyes he had at the start of the spell. So in short: Touching is not good for either of them.

"Excuse you?" Thomas huffs and Corazón rolls his eyes. This boy is seriously defensive. He can work with that.

"I use to be a fancy, upper-class son of a noble lord. My name was Percival Milquetoast." Corazón mutters his name and looks away from the ghost, unsure of how this would be received, upon hearing nothing Corazón continues, "I wasn't happy as the-As Percy so I escaped, became Corazón and...Here I am. Not dead yet."

Corazón had intended that last line to be humorous but instead he feels it was insensitive as he glances to see Thomas flinch.  
Poor boy. Killed before his time, story still unwritten.

"I heard you were-are a poet. Care to amuse me with your poems? Maybe I can write a few down, steal them as my own." Corazón teases the poet as he looks towards him, attempting to lighten the mood. If this man is anything like he is he'd be very happy to have someone finally listen.

"You can't steal them." Thomas finally says and makes Corazón chuckle a little, nodding and agreeing as the Poet stands up to start his poems. Corazón settles in for hours of amusement.

.

In actual time they spend almost the whole day together like that. Not always talking about poems but about their fathers, how Thomas died, How Corazón has almost died, how he met the others, how Thomas met and got on with the other ghosts, how long Thomas has been here and what his thoughts are in various things.

It's refreshing for both. Thomas has someone to talk to and Corazón, he has someone who understands his past. He loves his chosen family-he loves the Oxventurers but they can't understand...not really.

"I think it's about that time dueling became less popular as a way of satisfaction." Corazón muses and smiles as he can't resist the urge to add, "Of course guns are always useful to relieve tension if you get my drift."

Thomas shakes his head and looks disappointed, the smile on his face betraying his amusement though as he tries to remain as refined and pure as he as raised to be.

"You and Julian would get along well then." Thomas comments as Corazón hums, getting up and clicking his legs to stretch them after hours of sitting. 

"That's the no-trousers man right?" Cor asks absently and hears the poet scoff.

"That's Julian." He confirms and Corazón smiles at him, he's had a great few hours. Maybe he doesn't need monsters and money to feel happy. 

Nah.

"Shall we get back to the others? I'm sure the others have something to say." The pirate mutters, thinking about the earful he's going to get from everyone. He hides it well, better than most crushes but he likes the dead poet. He's attractive...what! He is! 

Corazón puts on a smile as he allows the very same poet to walk infront of him, not trusting himself to hide the blush. He's got to learn how to not fall for every fancy-dressed man in the world.

"Corazón." Thomas calls as they slow slightly, Corazón being pulled out of his thoughts by the charming voice, "Why did you really come get me? I'm not worth your time."

Corazón lets himself smile, maybe today wasn't a complete bust.

"Dob's more the poetic one but...I'd say you're worth all the love and time I can offer." He casually states, slowly moving away from both Thomas and the hall. He lets Thomas stew on that thought for a few seconds before the pirate finds a ghost poet walking alongside him.

"You mean it?"

"All the love I could offer and more." Corazón says again, expanding on his words. He can't help but think that maybe if times were different and this world was his, he and Thomas would have met at a party, talked, got to know each other and maybe, just maybe he'd be a ghost like him.

Thomas sighs and Corazón stops walking, finding himself at the door to the ballroom.

"Thomas, you are a fine gentleman but...never let your title be what was given to you. Make you truly you. Shape your future or...death...like a piece of clay, work on you and paint your world in slowly with as many or as few colours as you wish." Corazón stops to tell the young poet, laughing and rubbing his hair, "I know I'm mixing metaphors but the message is still there. Be your own person Thomas, be a poet and a dancer and a romantic idiot if you want but only if you want."

Corazon shakes his head, his stupid group of friends have made him soft. A year or so ago, before Dob and Egbert with their open emotional expression, before Merilwen and her softness without weakness and before Prudence who became a mirror to him, Corazon De Ballena would never be seen dead saying such things, especially not to a dead poet and yet here he is. 

"After you." He can't resist sayng, pushing open the door to the ballroom where the other ghosts and his crewmates are. The mask is on again and it barley slips for the rest of the night. 

It came close to falling when Dob decided jumping in fire was a good idea, or when Egbert accidently backed into the soldier-The Captain. Merilwen talking with Mary about witches, Prudence showing her a real witch. Dob excitedly talking with Pat. Egbert muttering about orders with The Captain. Merilwen talking and talking and talking about flowers with Kitty. The way Dob's eyes lit up, the way Egbert fixes his posture, the way Prudence gained a cocky grin, the way Merilwen laughed when Corazon returned almost made his mask break, but it didn't.  
Not even when he was instantly dragged into a dramatic performance organized by Dob about their most recent adventure. 


End file.
